This invention relates to bicycles and more particularly to a bicycle seat assembly having a pair of in line seats, one for pedaling and the other for use by the rider to hold the bicycle in an at rest position or for mounting and dismounting the bicycle.
For getting optimum leverage in riding a bicycle, the rider""s seat is generally positioned above the pedals at a distance to permit full extension of the legs vertically with the pedals in their lowermost position. Such full vertical leg extension enables the use of the rider""s body weight in pedaling.
It is difficult for the rider to bring at least one of his or her feet comfortably to the ground to hold the bicycle in position from this seated position when stopped or when dismounting. Often, the only way to do so is to dismount the bicycle by placing one foot on a pedal and pulling the opposite leg over the bicycle frame. This is quite inconvenient as, for example, when temporarily halted at a traffic stop. To try to remain on the seat with only one of the rider""s feet barely reaching the ground poses a hazard of falling over. Thus, often to avoid this problem, the seat is lowered which results in an undesirable pedaling position.
Bicycles with more than one seat are found in the prior art such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,740 issued Nov. 23, 1999 to Caraballo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,668 issued Sep. 17, 1985 to Rouw, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,435, issued Dec. 1, 1992 to Aldi. In all of these prior art devices, the seats are positioned side by side; in Caraballo and Rouw enabling a reciprocating up and down motion of such seats to ameliorate rider fatigue; in Aldi providing two seat sections laterally adjacent to each other to facilitate dismounting. Such side by side seat positioning is not directed to and cannot overcome the above described shortcomings of the prior art.
The device of the present invention employs an assembly for supporting a pair of bicycle seats or a single seat having two sections in an in line relationship. This assembly is attached to the normal bicycle seat mount and supports a first seat which is positioned above the pedals at a height there above which is optimum for pedaling and a second seat which is positioned aft of the first seat above a portion of the rear wheel at a lower height than the first from which at least one of the, rider""s legs can comfortably reach the ground to hold the bicycle at rest when stopped. For optimum pedaling, the riding seat should be positioned directly above or slightly forward of directly above the pedal pivot and at a height to permit the rider to fully extend his or her legs with the pedals in their bottom most position.
This end result is achieved by employing a bicycle seat assembly having a central longitudinal bar portion and two vertically extending bar portions which extend normally from the central bar portion. The first of these bar portions is positioned above the pedals and extends in an upward direction a distance great enough to support a first seat(or seat portion) at a predetermined optimum distance from the pedals to permit full vertical extension of the rider""s legs when pedaling. The second of these bar portions is positioned above a portion of the bicycle rear wheel and extends a distance great enough to support a second seat(or seat portion) a predetermined optimum distance to enable one or both of the rider""s feet to comfortably reach the ground when the bicycle is stopped and rider is in an at rest position. A support bar extends in a direction opposite to that of the first two bars and is attached to the normal bicycle seat support where it can be adjusted in height as may be required to achieve the above indicated end results.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved bicycle seating device which provides for optimum pedaling and enables the rider to readily hold the bicycle in an at rest position.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved bicycle seating device which utilizes a pair of in line seats, one for optimum pedaling, the other for facilitating holding the bicycle in an at rest position.